


Playing At It

by Ray_Writes



Series: Tumblr Prompts [16]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 02:39:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13848336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: Donna and the Doctor find themselves baby-sitting her younger cousins, which brings certain unspoken feelings to light.





	Playing At It

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another anonymous tumblr prompt, this time with the sentence "I’m sorry that I got way too into playing house and accidentally kissed you passionately." Enjoy!

“But you  _have_  to play! Auntie Donna is Mummy, so that makes you Daddy.”

Donna tried not to wince as little Elsie – technically her first cousin once-removed – tugged on an increasingly uncomfortable Doctor’s hand. The sweet girl couldn’t know, of course, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“Do we have to play house? Why not a different game, like, oh, Who’s the Zygon?” Spaceman suggested. He glanced around at their blank faces. “Or does no one know that one?”

“We  _want_ to play house,” Carin, Elsie’s big sister insisted, arms crossed and looking completely immovable.

It had been a surprise when they’d stopped back for a trip home to find Cousin Tammy was also visiting Donna’s mum. She’d brought her husband and kids along, too, which was nice since Donna didn’t get to see them much. They were constantly moving due to Eric’s job.

Tammy had been planning to take Eric to catch up with some old friends and hadn’t wanted to drag the girls along, and Donna’s mum had seized the opportunity of her and the Doctor’s arrival to head out as well and avoid baby-sitting. Not that Donna really minded; she loved kids.

But they were a bit of a sensitive subject when it came to her best mate.

“It’s alright, girls. I can just be Mummy,” Donna heard herself say. “Lots of houses just have a Mummy, and they’re perfectly lovely.”

“But we have a Mummy and a Daddy! And then you’d have to go to work and make dinner  _and_  play with us, and you’d be _exhausted_ ,” Elsie declared, flinging herself dramatically onto the sofa.

“Inside voices, Great Grampy is napping,” she reminded. “And plenty of Mummies make do–”

“I’ll play,” said the Doctor.

Donna turned to him sharply. “What?”

He shrugged, but Elsie had already leapt back up and was jumping around him in circles along with her sister with repeated shouts of “Yay!”

“Inside voices,” Donna and the Doctor said together. They looked at each other and blinked. Donna bit her lip.

“Carin, would you mind your sister for a minute? We, um, need to have a private Mummy-Daddy discussion.”

“Okay,” Carin agreed with an eager nod.

Donna took the Doctor’s hand and pulled him out into the hall. “Are you sure about this? Cause you really don’t have to.”

“Donna, it’s fine.”

“It’s alright if it’s not.” She wanted to be sure he knew she wasn’t forcing him into this. If only the girls knew, she was sure they’d have simply picked another game. “Really, I can manage.”

“But you shouldn’t have to.” He was absolutely serious as he continued, “You weren’t about to leave me to manage on my own, and neither will I.”

Donna shook her head. Stupid, sentimental Spaceman.

“Okay,” she said, taking his hand again and lacing their fingers together with a squeeze. They reentered the sitting room to find both girls lying on the sofa with their eyes shut.

“Er, girls?” The Doctor asked.

“We’re asleep,” Elsie muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

“You’ve got to wake us up,” Carin added.

They exchanged another look, but moved to do as requested. Donna crouched down and touched Carin’s shoulder gently, watching the Doctor do the same with Elsie out of the corner of her eye. He really was quite natural at this when he let himself be.

The girls got up before she could let her thoughts stray down that melancholy path again. “Alright, now what?”

“Daddy says goodbye, and then he goes to work,” Carin instructed.

“Oh. Well, bye then.” The Doctor stood up.

“Not like that!” Elsie giggled. She slid off the sofa and held her arms up. Donna had to hide her smile behind one hand as Spaceman got back down and allowed Elsie to hug him, then turned to Carin for the same.

“And you have to say goodbye to Mummy,” Carin reminded.

The Doctor looked up at her just as the smile slipped off her face. Slowly he stood back up and approached her, then held out his arms. Donna stepped into them. So yeah, they were pretend-playing a couple. A hug was a hug. Nothing in it.

Carin and Elsie both started laughing. “You’re  _supposed_  to kiss,” the elder of the two girls explained, clearly thinking them both very dense.

“Oh–”

“Well–”

They both started and stopped speaking at once. Donna stepped back, though her hands landed on his arms which hadn’t dropped from around her. She turned her head, offering up one cheek, and couldn’t help closing her eyes for a brief moment as his lips brushed against it.

“Not there. On the mouth!” Said Elsie, still giggling.

“Er, maybe next time,” said the Doctor. “Late for work. I just go over here?” He asked, releasing Donna and striding over to the archway that led to the hall.

“Yep!” Elsie confirmed with a nod. Then she added in a whisper, “Don’t worry, we’ll skip to dinner so you can come back soon.”

“Oh, okay,” said the Doctor. “Thank you.” Then he ducked out of sight, which was good because it meant Donna didn’t have to keep trying to avoid watching him.

Donna felt a tug on her shirt. She looked down at Carin. “Can I help you make dinner?”

“Well, sure sweetheart,” she answered, grateful for the distraction. “But dinner’s gonna be tea and biscuits so we don’t spoil your appetites.”

“What do  _I_  get to do?” Asked Elsie, bumping the coffee table as she ran over to them.

“Elsie’s not allowed,” said Carin. “She’s too little.” 

“But I wanna do something!”

“Um…” Donna glanced around. The trouble was, she wasn’t sure what sort of child-friendly activities they had on hand. There was always the telly.

“Tell you what, Elsie,” the Doctor spoke up from the hall. He poked his head back in. “It’s take your kid to work day.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not?”

The little girl’s pigtails practically flew behind her as she raced to his side. “Okay, let’s go! Let’s go!”

“That’s it.  _Allons-y_!” He declared, winking at Donna before leading Elsie outside.

‘Work’ apparently consisted of running around their back lawn and up and down the hill to Gramp’s allotment from what little Donna could glimpse out the kitchen window as she got the biscuits out for Carin to arrange on a plate.. So not that different from their average day.

The occasional shout from outside left a smile on her face as she waited for the kettle to boil. She was guiding Carin’s hands as the girl poured the cream when her grandad came shuffling into the kitchen.  

“Hey, what’s all this?”

“We’re playing house, Great-Grampy,” said Carin very importantly. “Donna’s Mummy and her boyfriend’s Daddy.”

“Oh, is that right?”

“He’s not my boyfriend, sweetheart. I haven’t got a boyfriend, Gramps,” Donna added with a warning look at her Gramp’s wide grin.

“No, that’s right, you’ve got a husband,” he quipped. Donna scowled as Carin let out a giggle.

“How about you set another place for your Great-Grampy, miss?”

“Yeah, that’d be lovely. Just give me a mo’ for the toilet,” said her grandad. He headed back out of the room.

Carin scurried to get the fifth plate and a chair as the kettle whistled. Donna went to the back door.

“Tea’s – I mean, dinner’s ready!”

Spaceman came running down the hill with Elsie on his shoulders, though he had to set her down to clear the doorway. “Oh, what a day at the office, right Elsie?”

“Yeah, what a day!” She echoed.

“Okay, so greet Carin and Mummy, right?”

“Uh-huh, you’re doing great!”

“Come here, sweetheart,” Donna said to Elsie. She needed a minute at least to collect herself while her heart did something strange in her chest at hearing him call her that. “Did you have fun at Daddy’s work?”

“Yeah! I wanna go again tomorrow!”

“Well, he’s got that affect on people,” Donna remarked. The girl didn’t even know the half of it, really.

“Daddy, come see the table, I set it all by myself,” said Carin, taking the Doctor’s hand and dragging him over.

“Well, this is a feast. You two are brilliant,” the Doctor praised. “Oh, what is it Carin?”

She had been tugging at his jacket, and now she pointed at Donna.

Spaceman’s eyes widened. “Oh, right, can’t forget Mummy.” He took a step around the table towards her, but Elsie suddenly darted between them.

“Wait, you should get her flowers! Daddy brings Mummy flowers all the time.”

“What, like these?” Asked the Doctor, withdrawing a truly ludicrous-sized bouquet from one of his pockets.

Elsie and Carin both gasped, and Donna was fairly certain their little eyes would pop out if they got any wider.

“Wow!”

“How’d you  _do_  that?”

“Ah, that’d be telling.” He crossed over to her finally and presented the flowers. “I believe these are for you, Madame.”

Donna’s lips twitched, and she fought to get it under control as she took them. “And how long have you been waiting to pull that trick?”

“Donna Noble, you’ve no idea,” the Doctor answered, eyes practically shining.

She smirked, unable to help asking, “Oh, so we’re Doctor and Mrs. Noble this time, are we?”

“I think we are.” One of his arms wound around her waist to draw her right to him, and then he was kissing her.

Donna’s eyes went wide and the bouquet dropped to the floor. She’d forgotten to turn her head, or he’d missed on his way to her cheek or  _something_  – only that didn’t explain why they were still kissing. Or why it felt so right. Her arms looped around the back of his neck, and Donna’s eyes slipped shut as her head tilted and the kiss deepened and–

“Oh! Pardon me,” said Gramps as he reentered the kitchen.

Donna and the Doctor almost pushed away from each other. It felt like her face was burning, and Donna didn’t dare look at him or anyone else.

“We were just–”

The front door opened, and Eric’s voice called out, “We’re back!”

Carin and Elsie ran right out of the kitchen, not waiting around for an excuse Donna didn’t know how to finish. “Daddy!”

The Doctor’s arms crossed over his chest, and he cleared his throat once before stating, “We should probably be going.”

“Right,” Donna agreed.

They managed to escape her mother’s house with a couple of quick goodbyes and promises to catch up some other time, then fled back to the TARDIS. It was absolutely quiet as they entered the Vortex. Donna wondered if she ought to have just continued onto her room so as to let the matter go.

Before she could decide to, Spaceman spoke up. “I’m sorry.”

Donna stared at him, not sure if she wanted to know how that sentence was going to end.

The Doctor dragged a hand through his hair and clarified, “I’m sorry that I got way too into playing house and accidentally kissed you passionately.”

She nodded. “Right.” Of course it had been an accident. He would have never meant to kiss her.

“You have every right to be upset. I should have checked before I did it, and I’m so sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable or unsafe–”

“Wait, what?” Donna looked back up, hardly daring to believe what she’d just heard.

His hair was an absolute mess with how much he was worrying it. “I just want you to know you can trust me. I would never have forced myself on you, Donna, and I don’t know what came over me back there, but–”

“No, wait, hold on,” she demanded, and his mouth snapped shut. “You think I think – and you  _wanted_  to kiss me?”

“That- that doesn’t really matter, Donna,” he stammered.

She gaped at him. “Pretty sure it does, Time Boy!”

“Alright, but the point is, it’s not going to happen again since you don’t want it to. I need you to know that. Because I…you’re too important to me to lose over feeling a different way about each other. Okay? Donna?”

He was really, properly frightened, Donna realized. Oh God, he really thought she was going to leave him!

“Doctor,” she said, taking a step towards him. He wavered on the balls of his feet, but allowed her to approach. “It’s okay.”

“Really?” His eyes were searching hers as if needing to check for himself.

“Yeah. Well, there’s just one problem.” She watched him immediately tense back up again, and added, “I don’t feel a different way.”

The Doctor blinked. “…what?”

“You think kissing back’s how I react to being forced upon? Or did that just totally escape your notice?”

His mouth was open, but nothing was actually coming out of it. He was so hopeless sometimes. And yet here she was actually admitting she was in love with him.

Donna decided to take a leaf out of Carin and Elsie’s book and prompted, “You’re supposed to kiss me again now.”

The Doctor swallowed. “Um.” Tentatively, his hands went to rest on her waist, and, after waiting a minute as if convinced she was about to snap at him, he slowly brought his lips back to hers.

Donna threw her arms around him and rocked up onto her toes to press them as close together as she could manage which seemed to startle her Spaceman, but he caught up soon enough. She certainly wasn’t content to start off all shy when she already knew what he could do.

She’d have to get those girls something real nice for Christmas this year.


End file.
